Ranking the killer perks by how much I personally like them
Out of curiosity I ran all the killer perks through the Ranking Engine at rankingengine.pubmeeple.com and it generated the list below. I ranked pair of perks against each other based on how much I generally like and how often I use the perks. That's not always the same as how "powerful" I think the perk is, but more like a list based on just my playstyle preferences and how many different killers and loadouts I might use a perk in. I make no claims that my list is in any way definitive or objective, and I guarantee there are some perks I have much higher or lower than the consensus because I'm a weirdo. But it was a fun little exercise so if you've got time and you're wondering just how the perks line up in your own head, give Pubmeeple a shot! 🙂
# Item
1 Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance - Scourge Hooks are just fun to use in general, and this is a solid perk to boot
2 Save the Best for Last - I like to try and follow up an injury with a down when possible, and this perk is great at giving a survivor as little distance as possible. It's best when the killer has a way to do damage other than basic attacks, but still really good even on basic attack only killers.
3 Stridor - Hearing survivors in this game is huge, and this just amplifies that tremendously.
4 Hex: Devour Hope - A risky hex perk, but man is it fun when it works!
5 Bloodhound - Yes, you can see blood without this, but you can't miss it with it. And it makes the trails last longer than normal as well. Plus it's immune to aura hiding perks like Shadowstep and Distortion and works even when the survivors crouch or have Iron Will. It's a great tool for finding and ultimately downing injured survivors regardless of what they're doing.
6 Deadlock - Pretty much a bit of free slowdown on every hook.
7 Dead Man's Switch - Similar to Deadlock. Only a bit lower because it sometimes requires the killer to get close to a hook to capitalize quickly
8 Hex: Ruin - And more slowdown. It rewards killers who can get close to gens that are being worked on.
9 Pop Goes the Weasel - Just a tad lower than the above slowdowns, mainly because it takes extra time to get to a gen and kick it. But the 20 seconds off the gen is solid.
10 Spies from the Shadows - A great mid range tracking perk, it tracks anybody on most areas of most maps that is doing anything short of maybe just crouching. And indoors its especially interesting since it lets you see and hear the birds throw walls. My only gripe is the perk uses the generic explosion sound and not crow calls.
11 Hex: Blood Favour - Since its buff a while ago this perk has grown on me. I've gotten quite a few extra hits off it. Sure it's a Hex, but usually by the time the Hex is destroyed I've already gotten a few bonus hits.
12 Thrilling Tremors - A decent hybrid of a tracking perk and a slowdown perk.
13 Sloppy Butcher - Not a bad indirect slowdown perk. The time difference isn't huge but it's totally passive and requires nothing more than hitting people with your basic attack so it slides into a lot of loadouts pretty well.
14 Tinkerer - Good info perk and Undetectability is great. I have it slightly below others mainly because some killers are better than others at being able to capitalize on it before a gen is finished.
15 Scourge Hook: Gift of Pain - I like Scourge Hooks in general, I think it's a fun mechanic. This perk isn't quite as effective as Pain Resonance but isn't too bad.
16 Hex: Crowd Control - This is my favorite of the vault blocking perks. It requires no additional action on the killer's part to work, and can block multiple vaults at once. Like Blood Favour, it can pay off a few times before it's destroyed.
17 Franklin's Demise - Knocking tools out of hands never gets old. 😄 I don't have it higher mainly because it's a bit swingier and not quite as effective overall as other perks above it, but it's still pretty high on my list.
18 Forced Penance - This perk triggers surprisingly often, it's amazing how often survivors try to bodyblock and hook trade. And the effect is pretty solid, 60 seconds of Broken means quite a while of them being downable in one hit. Also pairs well with Bloodhound above.
19 Hex: Haunted Ground - It's a trap gimmick, but survivors love to bless and cleanse totems so it goes off pretty regularly relatively early in the match. And the benefit is decent, usually resulting in one or two instant downs.
20 Hex: The Third Seal - This perk is slightly underrated because swfs can get around it to some extent. But against solo survivors Blindness can be kind of rough since it robs them of seeing down allies, hook auras, and auras from anything that would let them see the killer aura or totems or generators, etc. And making people Blind even helps keep its hex totem from being found.
21 I'm All Ears - A good aura perk, it helps both in chases to track survivors at walled loops and occasionally gives an aura to spot at long distance. It's main downside is just that it's kind of sporadic.
22 Starstruck - Making survivors Exposed is solid. The downside is if survivors are smart they'll know about the perk from its icon and get out of the aura in time to avoid being hit with an Exposed attack.
23 Oppression - Getting three gens in regression with a single kick isn't bad, and triggering the tough skill check does occasionally produce an explosion for info. Not the best but not the worst in this line of perks.
24 Brutal Strength - Useful after pallet drops to break and move on quickly since the survivor gets a few meters less distance away before you resuming chasing them which can make the difference between them reaching another pallet and getting hit. Not as powerful as it could be but still ok.
25 Whispers - Great at the start of the match to find survivors quickly, and also good at the end of a match when you have to find one or two survivors who might be hiding. Kind of useless mid-match though.
26 Dying Light - I wish this perk didn't give the Obsession a boost, it would make it a bit more effective. But I love how it works in principle so I use it anyway, it's just fun when you get a bunch of hooks and build up those tokens.
27 No Way Out - A solid slowdown perk, 60 second delay is nothing to sneeze at! Generally speaking though I like to use perks that help before the endgame, I just think it's more fun typically. But it's definitely a good perk.
28 Grim Embrace - Not too bad a perk but it's a little swingy since it only triggers if/when you hook everybody and so it doesn't help you as much if you're losing. Kind of a "win more" effect
29 Hex: Undying - This is a great perk if I'm using other Hexes. By itself it's not as good which is why it's lower on the list
30 Predator - Totally a quality of life thing, I just love being able to see a bright glowing trail straight to a survivor. It does have the downside of not allowing scratches to appear on walls where they'd be easier to spot from a distance, but I love the trail so much I use it anyway. Not a hugely impactful perk but an aesthetically pleasing one.
31 Enduring - Taking less stun time from pallets isn't bad, but there are a lot of times where you don't get to capitalize since the survivor is on the other side of the pallet and you might have to break it anyway. So unless it's paired with Spirit Fury or Brutal Strength it's less likely to pay off.
32 Surveillance - This is a solid information perk, especially in combination with Ruin. It's lower on my list though because without Ruin it kind of requires you to be kicking gens all the time which is a bit inefficient, so especially without Ruin and without a perk that gives you a benefit for kicking generators it's kind of meh on its own.
33 Fearmonger - A nice perk to kind of obscure information and Exhaust survivors who stick to gens. The thing is though survivors know they have it, so if they're smart they get off the gen the moment they see you coming and the Exhaustion probably won't matter. Still, if Dead Hard and Lithe and Balanced Landing are bugging you, this is a perk to try.
34 Thanatophobia - A good perk IF you can keep everybody injured. The issue being that's not always possible so it's kind of killer and loadout dependent.
35 Discordance - Gives some decent information in the early game, but the issue is that if you keep splitting survivors up off the same gen you're forcing them into an even more effective strategy where they split up and all do separate gens all around the map. I'd rather have the survivors overkill on one gen at a time then all go all over the map and do multiple gens even more efficiently. Still that information early is worthwhile so I do sometimes use this.
36 Trail of Torment - I love stealth and Undetectability and this is a good perk for that. The main problem with it is it notifies survivors when you've done it by highlighting the gen, it has a bit of a cooldown, and it requires you to kick the gen. So on its own it's kind of so-so, when I use it I like to use it in a build with other perks that synergize with kicking gens to get the most bang for my buck out of the kicks.
37 Unrelenting - This perk can help you catch back up after a miss, which is nice. The issue here is that, ideally, you shouldn't be missing attacks in the first place, and if you never miss this perk would never help you at all. Also it only works on missed basic attacks so it doesn't help certain killers as much as others either.
38 Dark Devotion - Transferring your terror radius and becoming Undetectable after hitting the Obsession is a nice stealth effect. I don't use this as often though since it only works on the Obsession, so on its own I don't think the perk is that great. But I do sometimes use it in combination with another Obsession related perk or two.
39 Lethal Pursuer - Gives solid information at the very start of the match where everybody is which can get you off to a great start. And then it's gone forever. I'll use this but I kind of like Whispers better since Whispers gives information that achieves almost the same thing in the beginning (not quite but still pretty good) but also helps you at the end of the match.
40 Deerstalker - I actually really like this as a filler perk, especially when I've found myself slugging a lot. It can save a surprising amount of time when you've downed someone and then chased someone else. The reason it's at 40 is mainly because it's honestly not as powerful as a lot of perks above it, so it really is mostly a convenience thing so you don't have to search around for a slug who crawled into a bush somewhere.
41 Hex: Pentimento - I feel like this perk has potential, but requiring survivors to cleanse a few totems is kind of a dice roll. Maybe they cleanse them, or maybe they bless them, or maybe they ignore them, who knows? If they do happen to cleanse a couple of totems then the gen slowdown on this perk is pretty good, even placing two Pentimento totems could slow things down for a bit until the survivors come back and spend additional time getting rid of them. But I do like other Hexes better.
42 Hex: Retribution - The aura from Hex Retribution is pretty great, it's like getting Lethal Pursuer mid-match. However, unlike Lethal Pursuer, you might not be in a position to capitalize on the aura, and the survivors may have already set up something like a Shadowstep Boon which would hide the auras as well. So it's a little risky, and kind of bad on its own without any other Hexes.
43 Spirit Fury - I feel like I should probably like this one more than I do? But honestly I think Blood Favour has gotten me more hits than this. And because you're still stunned by the pallet the survivor can still maybe get to safety at another drop by the time you recover, so without Enduring it's a bit weaker.
44 Make Your Choice - Exposing rescuers is a nice effect, but since it only happens when you're far from the hook and they know they're Exposed it doesn't always pan out unless you happen to be a killer that can get back to a hook rescue from far away really quickly (e.g. Hag, Blight)
45 Eruption - I love the idea of this perk where you kick a bunch of gens and eventually when you down someone they all explode. The problem is kicking all those gens is a big time investment, so on its own it's still a bit of a weak perk. I only use it when I have another perk that rewards kicking gens.
46 Jolt - Getting some gens into regression for free on a down is nice, but it's also kind of luck dependent. If the survivor is smart and runs away from gens then it might not even hit anything. Plus if you run perks that block gens then already blocked gens won't be affected by the explosion, and if you have something like Pop where you need to kick a gen you can't kick a gen that's already regressing. So Jolt has got a bit of bad synergy with other perks sometimes.
47 Hex: Plaything - Making survivors Oblivious is a fun Stealth effect, but I kind of like other Hex effects a bit better. There's the obvious combo people do with this and Pentimento to try for that gimmicky 5 Pentimento run, but really that's overkill and not the best use of Pentimento probably in the first place.
48 Dragon's Grip - This can get you an Exposed hit or two, but only if you can capitalize on survivors working on the gens you kick, which many killers won't have time to do. It also has a really long cooldown. So I've used it in kicking centered loadouts but not much else.
49 Agitation - Not a bad perk if you are worried about failing carries to Scourge Hooks or due to Boil Over. But if you reach your destination hooks consistently it's not worthwhile, unless you're doing a gimmick build involving hitting people while you carry someone (which is a fun gimmick!)
50 Shadowborn - A nice quality of life effect, having the wider field of view helps spot survivors a bit more easily plus helps you track survivors who try and 360 you in a chase. Those effects are kind of mild, though, so it's not high on my list.
51 Hex: No One Escapes Death - This perk is effective at what it does, namely hopefully get you a down or two at the end of the match. But as a playstyle thing I like to use perks that help me midgame versus the endgame so I hardly ever use NOED. (On occasion when I do an endgame centered build, though, this one is a no brainer!)
52 Hysteria - Ok, first off, now I have that Muse baseline stuck in my head like an earworm that won't die. As far as the perk goes, though, Oblivious is a decent effect but it only applies to Injured survivors and only for the 30 seconds after the hit. The survivor you were chasing already knows you're their so it doesn't matter much that they can't hear your terror radius, so really this only pays off if the other survivors are staying injured. But that's an "if", especially given the heal heavy current meta.
53 A Nurse's Calling - Surprisingly low on my list, I just find I like Bloodhound better here. Nurse's Calling only actually works if they are healing and in your terror radius simultaneously, which can happen of course but if they're smart they try and stay out of your radius when they heal. And of course if they choose not to heal or only heal at a distance then this doesn't help you find them at all. I've just always found myself wanting to use Bloodhound instead of this for tracking downed injured survivors
54 Nemesis - Ironically not a Nemesis perk, on its own it more or less just makes people Oblivious when they stun you. Which is ok, but there are better effects. Really it's mainly a perk to combo with other Obsession related perks possibly.
55 Gearhead - It's possible this one will go up at some point since it got a buff, but the few times I've tried to use it since the buff I wasn't able to spot auras from it. So either the survivors weren't hitting great skill checks or I was being unobservant or both. Ironically I suspect the info this perk gives is best against strong survivors who can reliably hit Great skill checks.
56 Lightborn - Avoiding flashlight saves is pretty easy and mid-chase blinds and blinds at pallets are more gimmicks than anything else. I do sometimes use this perk just to mess with people who use flashlights, but honestly it's not a great perk in terms of helping you win the match.
57 Play with Your Food - Man, I want to like this perk so much more than I do! But losing tokens any time you do anything that MIGHT injure a survivor is pretty harsh. Throw a dagger with Trickster? Lost token. Rev up a chainsaw with Bubba? Goodbye tokens. Or lose a token even if you miss a basic attack too. And building up the tokens is tricky since it only happens with your Obsession in a chase. I might throw this in an Obsession centric gimmick build, or something like PWYF Tombstone Meyers, but otherwise I just can't seem to justify having it.
58 Bamboozle - I have never had much success using this perk. Other than maybe blocking the window at the shack or something similar by the time you step through a vault to block it the survivor is probably long gone to the next tile. It's why I like Hex: Crowd Control better.
59 Rancor - As I mentioned on other perks above, I like mid-game perks, and this is obviously focused more on that big finish at the end killing the Obsession with your own hands hopefully. Which is cool but it also comes with that downside of the Obsession seeing you every generator and (if they're smart) knowing you have this perk. I've gotten a few kills from Rancor, don't get me wrong, but I'd just rather use other things.
60 Overwhelming Presence - Making items run out twice as quickly is actually a nice effect. The problem is this perk only works when they're in your terror radius, so who knows how much it actually drains from their durations? So I wouldn't use this on its own. I do use it though in my Doctor's "giant terror radius" build.
61 Iron Grasp - I think the only reason this is even at 61 is because of the possibility that it could negate Boil Over's stagger. If it weren't for Boil Over this would be bottom of the list somewhere for sure.
62 Blood Echo - Exhaustion is a nice effect but since it only works on injured survivors and only for 45 seconds it's kind of meh. I do consider using it on killers that can keep people injured all the time though (e.g. Legion, Plague), and the Hemorrhage side effect works well with Bloodhound
63 Fire Up - Destroying pallets and kicking gens faster is an ok effect, but by the time you've got 4 tokens they're already down to 1 gen left and you probably don't want to be kicking gens that much. And by 5 tokens all the gens are done so all you get is the faster pallet breaks. (The vault speed is irrelevant, why are you vaulting as a killer?) I hardly ever use this unless I'm going for a gimmick where I break pallets super fast
64 Distressing - Absolutely terrible on its own, it actually hurts you by itself. But it's this high on my list specifically because I do use it on Doctor with his giant terror radius build since his Static Blast is tied to his terror radius.
65 Iron Maiden - Great band, lousy perk. Who cares how fast you open lockers? Unless maybe you're playing Huntress, how often are you even opening lockers randomly? And while they info when someone gets out of a locker is nice, it's unlikely you'll be close enough to capitalize and get the Exposed hit, after which they know you have this perk and probably never use a locker again. I wish this perk was better because I so want to use something called "Iron Maiden" in my loadouts!
66 Hoarder - Kind of terrible on its own. Survivors simply don't manipulate chests and dropped items all that often, so it maybe triggers once or twice a match and gives you no other benefit. There's a niche use for Pinhead with his box, and with Franklin's Demise, but frankly I'd rather use almost anything else above this.
67 Knock Out - This might be ok if you were doing a slug centered build where you go for the 4 slug victory. I almost never do that, just a playstyle preference, so I never use this perk.
68 Corrupt Intervention - I know, I know. This perk is amazing! Best Perk In The Game! But playstyle wise I dislike it because it coerces the survivors to start hiding at the start of the match. And I'd much rather have them actively doing something I can hear and see than just crouching around waiting for the gens to be unblocked. I think the only time I consider running this is in combination with Lethal Pursuer since that perk lets me find survivors immediately and get into a chase ASAP which mitigates that risk of them just going dark for 90 seconds and the game being kind of dull at the start.
69 Deathbound - I've tried to use this perk a bunch of times because on paper it sounds not too bad, but it just seems like I'm never in a position to capitalize on the info because it only triggers when they're far away from you.
70 Overcharge - This perk is pretty bad by itself since it relies on survivors missing skill checks and good survivors don't do that. However, paired with Unnerving Presence and possibly Huntress Lullaby that skill check is significantly tougher to hit, even for decent survivors, so I do sometimes use it on Doctor in a giant terror radius build. (Plus it's a Doctor starting perk so he always has it, even after I've Prestiged him.)
71 Infectious Fright - I kind of hoped this perk would pan out more for me, but typically the information I get from it is either useless (because I want to just hook the person I downed instead of chase the person who screamed ) or something I already knew (because I heard or saw the other nearby survivor during the chase). I don't think I've ever actually gotten an extra down or anything off this perk.
72 Unnerving Presence - A bad perk on its own since even with the smaller skill checks survivors can still hit them. But I do use it on Doctor sometimes paired with Overcharge because that specific skill check becomes extremely small so it does produce some explosions.
73 Coulrophobia - The healing slowdown could be ok but since it's only within your terror radius it's a lot less likely to impact the survivors since they know they are debuffed from it. All they have to do is run a little further away to heal. I'll sometimes throw this in on the Doctor giant radius build, but that's about it.
74 Bitter Murmur - Seeing auras is nice, but since this only triggers after each gen I just never feel like I'm getting enough out of it over the course of the match. I'm probably underestimating it somewhat though so maybe this would climb up a bit on my list in the future, who knows?
75 Monitor & Abuse - The terror radius reduction isn't that impactful unless you're using a build centered around it. On its own this perk is kind of bad. I do like it, though, with Vanity Mirror Meyers using his Rabbit add-on since that loadout permanently reduces his terror radius to something crazy like 4 meters. (Basically it's so small you may as well not have a terror radius).
76 Remember Me - As above, I prefer perks that help in the midgame. This is an endgame only perk, and it's not even as good as No Way Out so I'd rather use that perk than this.
77 Coup de Grâce - I love the idea of a perk that increases lunge distance, but because of how this perk gets a token after each gen and then you automatically use that token on the next lunge it's way too iffy for my liking. If this perk was just a passive distance boost on lunges, even a modest one like 40% or whatever, I'd consider using it over this weirdly overly complicated version we have.
78 Barbecue & Chilli - I know a lot of people use this at least in part for extra Bloodpoints, but I honestly don't care that much about the bloodpoints. And if I just look at this perk solely for its auras I like a lot of other perks better. So I never use BBQ and Chili.
79 Hex: Thrill of the Hunt - Since they nerfed the perk so it doesn't give noise notifications when someone touches a totem I've never bothered using this. Maybe, MAYBE if I was going to make a full on anti-Boon build I'd use this to make placing the Boons take forever and a day? But otherwise it's a waste of a slot.
80 Mad Grit - Terrible perk, other than looking hilarious when you can swing instantly over and over while carrying someone. About the only use I have for this is a gimmick build involving chasing people while carrying someone.
81 Zanshin Tactics - I do like the buff they gave this where it's a permanent effect that always lets you see all the vault and pallet locations and breakable walls. And I've used it occasionally. But I also found all those extra auras was a bit distracting, and sometimes even interfered with other killer auras like making it hard to tell Freddy's fake pallets from the Zanshin auras. This is one that might go up my list at some point if I try it again, but for now I'm not using it.
82 Hangman's Trick - Another perk I want to like but can't. The aura it gives would be ok IF it wasn't just when you carried someone. As is you hardly ever will get info from it that you can utilize. And the noise alert on a sabo is dumb since you can usually see the person running in to do the sabotage before that happens. The perk doesn't even have the decency of making sabotages take longer than normal, such a waste!
83 Hex: Huntress Lullaby - This perk is the worst Hex. Not only can the effect be cancelled, since it's a Hex, but even if this wasn't a Hex and lasted the whole match its effect doesn't hurt decent survivors all that much unless you've built it up with a number of hooks already. Outside of the "impossible skill check Doctor" it's hard to justify ever using this.
84 Furtive Chase - I don't know why the devs think reducing terror radius during a chase is useful. This perk could literally make you Undetectable in a chase and it would still be kind of bad, so imagine how awful it is with only halving your terror radius in a chase. Having no terror radius is nice BETWEEN CHASES, it's pointless during them. Aside from gimmicky combos where you use this to try and swap the Obsession around it's a terrible perk, and even in those you can use Nemesis to get some of that same effect (or just pick up someone who has Decisive Strike)
85 Blood Warden - This perk is so close to being good, but is worthless because it requires you to hook someone after the doors are already open to trigger it. But virtually all the survivors don't open the doors until they are sure everybody who can get out is going to get out, so unless you open the doors yourself (which is not usually a good idea) and then follow it up by picking up someone you just downed and hooking them, this isn't going to ever trigger. And meanwhile, you could instead just run No Way Out and block the gens for 60 seconds plus get a noise alert where they are, which is clearly way, WAY better than this perk.
86 Claustrophobia - Blocking vaults and pallets is good, but only if you're close enough to make it matter. But most of the time this triggers it's because you aren't near enough to a gen to have pressured them off it, so by the time you get there they're long gone from the area. I've never gotten value out of this perk.
87 Insidious - Man, I'd love to find a good use for this perk outside of that dumb facecamping Bubba thing which I never do. The problem is, you're Undetectable sure, but you're also not actively doing anything other than looking around that spot. So it's really only good at sitting still and camping one gen or hook or whatever. And even then, you're not invisible, they can still see you, so you still need to actually hide a bit for it to matter. I love the idea in principle of a perk that makes you Undetectable like this but in practice it's just really, really terrible.
88 Beast of Prey - Another stealth perk that only works mid-chase. Who cares if you're stealthy during Bloodlust? Worthless.
89 Territorial Imperative - Seeing auras in the basement might be ok, except it's kind of random if or when you get to hook in the basement and, even if you do, this perk only triggers for a few seconds and only when you're a far ways away from it. So yeah, you can see them going down into the basement when you're across the map, who cares? Maybe there's a build with Hag or Blight or Hillbilly where you could use this a bit? But it's so dumb I haven't bothered to try.
90 Monstrous Shrine - And my least favorite perk, this one has the truly worthless effect of making it somewhat harder for a survivor to pull themselves off a hook in the basement. Who in their right mind tries to pull themselves off of hooks normally? That's never going to matter, even if it applied to all the hooks in the match and not just to the basement. It does make their hook timers go down slightly faster, but not nearly enough to make a difference outside of a once in a blue moon thing where someone gets their just a few seconds too late. This perk really, really needs a revamp.
Comments
Blood Warden's position is insultingly low.
I understand that EGC completely screwed this perk, hence why I stopped using it after that damn stupid mechanic was introduced to the game, but it used to be very useful back in the day. As long as you played your cards right, you were pretty much guaranteed to get at least some value from it.
Surely its old usefulness is enough to move it a few positions?
Sorry to disappoint, I wasn't around when Bloodwarden was originally released so I don't have any nostalgia for it (I started playing in late 2019 just before Oni came out).
You didn't get to see it on its prime, then...
Oh, I am really sorry for ya.
An interesting read, with some unexpected choices!
Thanks!
I thought I was offended by how low Lightborn was until I realized where Monstrous Shrine was placed. I disagree with your preferences, heavily.